Hillary Clinton Backs Release of Hostages in Iran Despite Supporting Deal that Failed to Free Them

AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
Patrick Howley

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s campaign offered public support to the cause of freeing American hostages in Iran.

But Clinton did not mention that she supported President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, which essentially went out of its way to leave American hostages in captivity without negotiating for their release—a fact that Republican candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz repeatedly pointed out.

Clinton’s foreign policy adviser Laura Rosenberger tweeted out the Washington Post editorial board’s plea for the release of Post journalist Jason Rezaian, who has been detained in Iran for 500 days. Clinton re-tweeted Rosenberger’s statement that “500 days is 500 too many. Iran should immediately release Jason Rezaian & all Americans detained/missing .”

But Clinton offered strong support for Obama’s Iran nuclear deal in September on the same day that Trump and Cruz called attention to the plight of the abandoned hostages at a rally outside the U.S. Capitol.

Clinton’s support for the deal, even after Republicans made the issue of the hostages a front-and-center topic in the debate, undermines her Twitter-based platitudes.

Four Americans are still held captive in Iran, including Rezaian and Pastor Saeed Abedini, who was jailed for preaching Christianity in the Islamic fundamentalist nation.

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